The progressive networking of IT resources such as, for example, servers that provide computing capacity or storage capacity makes it possible to assemble loose computer networks that jointly solve certain problems. Solutions of this type make it possible, in particular, to distribute parts of or even the entire IT infrastructure of a company throughout the world, wherein it is transparent to the respective user whether a resource used is provided locally or remotely. This process is occasionally also referred to as virtualization of the IT infrastructure.
Basic approaches in which an abstracted IT infrastructure is dynamically adapted to a demand and made available via a network have become generally known under the term “cloud computing.” A special application of cloud computing is so-called “cloud storage” in which special storage capacities of different storage resources are provided by different storage locations.
Utilization of the storage space of a storage cloud has significant economical and organizational advantages in comparison with the provision of a local storage capacity. Until now, however, the capabilities of cloud storage have only been utilized sporadically, in particular, because security concerns conflict with the storage of data on unknown servers. Known data security methods, particularly encryption of the stored data, are only conditionally suitable for scenarios in which large amounts of data are stored on an unknown server. If a sufficiently large amount of data and adequate computing power or computing time are available, most practically relevant encryption methods can be cracked, i.e., decrypted without knowledge of the key used for the encryption.
It could therefore be helpful to provide methods for storing and reading data that are particularly suitable for use in a storage cloud and increase data security in comparison with known methods. It could also be helpful to provide devices suitable for carrying out these methods.